Chapter 21
The next morning Ron was pacing nervously around the dormitory. Stopping every once and a while to make sure his hair was lying flat. Finally, as Ron made his hundredth lap around the room, Harry stopped him and said.
"Ron what are you so worried about? You've known Hermione for over six years now."
"I know, but I've never been on a date before. What if I make a fool of myself?" Ron asked.
"You probably will." Harry said.
"What a great friend you are." Ron grumbled.
"Whatever. I'm going down to breakfast." Harry said as he left the dorm. Ron quickly calmed down when breakfast was mentioned.
When Harry and Ron arrived in the Common Room they quickly found Hermione and Ginny. Ron and Hermione greeted each other awkwardly. Harry and Ginny just shook their heads. They were almost in the Great Hall when Harry felt two peoples' presence.
"Go save me a seat, Gin. I'll be there in a minute." Harry said as Ginny continued to the Great Hall. Harry stepped outside the oak front doors and said to what appeared to be a patch of earth, "Fred, George; fancy having some breakfast?" Two figures appeared out of nowhere.
"How'd you know we were here?" Fred asked.
"My little secret." Harry replied.
When they entered the Great Hall most of the school exploded in applause. Fred and George bowed several times before squeezing in between Ron and Hermione.
"What did you do that for?" Hermione asked.
"You two didn't seem to want to talk to each other so this seemed like the perfect place to sit." George said helping himself to some toast.
"Well you were wrong." Ron grumbled.
Forty-five minutes later everyone was lining up to leave the castle. Ron and Hermione were still standing in awkward silence. Filch nodded to Harry and Ginny and they walked outside to meet Fred and George.
"Do we have to stay with them?" Ginny asked.
"Unless you want to explain to Dumbledore why I ditched my guards, yes." Harry answered.
"Fine." Ginny said.
They spent most of the morning and early afternoon walking through Hogsmead. They even went inside Zonko's where, to Harry's surprise, Fred and George bought a lot of stuff. At a questioning look from both Harry and Ginny, Fred said.
"We have to keep a leg up on the competition."
"Plus we always need more joke supplies." George added
At two o'clock Harry, Ginny, Fred and George went to meet Ron and Hermione in the Three Broomsticks. To all of their delight Ron and Hermione weren't acting strange around each other any more. The rest of the afternoon was spent up by the Shrieking Shack.
Harry was thinking about meeting Sirius there when his scar gave a nasty throb. He tried to ignore it but ten minutes later the pain was just getting worse. Harry stood up and started to head back to the castle.
"Oi Harry, what's the matter?" Fred asked.
"Scar, I need to see Dumbledore. Sorry Ginny. I'll see you at dinner." Harry said as he continued walking.
"Not without us you don't." George said as he and Fred caught up to Harry.
"Does the Order think that I'm going to just walk into Voldemorts' arms?" Harry asked as his scar gave another painful throb.
"I'm not really sure." Fred said.
"We could ask them if you'd like." George said.
They had finally made it to the castle. Fred and George left Harry and returned to Hogsmead. Harry ran all the way to Dumbledores' office, gave the password and burst through the door not caring if he was interrupting something. Before he could say anything he noticed that Lupin was in the room.
"What are you doing here?" Harry asked as another wave of pain shot through his scar.
"That's not important Harry. My guess would be that you have something to tell me, is that correct?" Dumbledore asked.
"Yes. My scar started hurting about fifteen minutes ago. The last time it hurt this bad Voldemort killing all those people in London." Harry said as he tried to iron out his scar.
"I'm afraid that you were correct then, Remus. Voldemort is on the move again."
Harry looked back and forth between Dumbledore and Lupin before he felt a wave of pain wash over him. He fell to the floor and started twitching. The last time Harry had felt like this Voldemort had tried to posses him. Harry desperately tried to push Voldemort out of his mind before a high, cold laughter filled his ears.
"It won't be long before I kill you, Potter. Just remember that you brought this on yourself." Voldemort hissed in Harry's ear before leaving.
Harry opened his eyes. He could tell that two people were standing over him, but couldn't remember who they were. One of them was trying to talk. Finally words reached Harry's ears.
"Harry, Harry are you alright? What happened?" Lupin asked.
"V-Voldemort is going to try to kill me soon." Harry said.
"Are you sure?" Dumbledore asked as Harry broke out of his trance.
"No, I'm just telling you that so you can make the Order follow me more closely. We all know how much I love being followed around as it is." Harry said angrily.
"Harry calm down." Lupin said.
"Calm down! Calm down! I like to see you calm down if you'd just heard that Voldemort was getting everything ready for your death." Harry growled.
"Harry there's nothing we can do about that right now." Dumbledore said.
"Fine!" Harry shouted as he turned and left the office.
Lupin made a move to follow him but Dumbledore called him back. They were both looking out the window where there was barely any light left. They watched as a small figure ran out the front doors and changed into a wolf.
"Albus, shouldn't we try and stop him?" Lupin asked.
"Remus the best thing we can do for him is let him be by himself right now." Dumbledore answered.
Harry was feeling so many emotions at the moment that he felt like he was going to explode. So he did the only thing he could think of and changed into a wolf. He ran for almost five hours trying to empty his mind. When Harry stopped to rest he let out a mighty, bone chilling howl. Most of the school heard it but didn't pay much attention. Dumbledore and Lupin were the only people bothered by it.
It was two in the morning when Harry made his way back up to the castle. He snuck into the dormitory and within a matter of minutes was asleep.